A Productive Desktop Environment for Scientists and Engineers - Part III

Get a good text editor

I have met at least one person, who used to edit source code using microsoft word! While this is certainly possible to do, there are far easier ways of doing the same thing. In the windows environment, perhaps the most basic tool is the notepad application. Before we dive in to the world of text editors under different platforms, it is benificial to have some background knowlege on text files.

You need a good web browser

Simple! Just download Firefox browser and be happy ever after :-) (at least for the foreseeable future!). I am not just trying to be different from the 'masses' here. Simply trust me on this one, install it, load a web page and press 'Ctrl+T'. Tabbed browsing is one of those simple improvement that endear a tool to the user. I have been using this feature on my browser (first Mozilla and then Mozilla Firefox since 2001 and I can not imagine browsing the internet without it.

Spell checker for your browser

When was the last time you have opend up one of large textarea on a web page. (a good example is using a webmail service like gmail or Yahoo! Mail.) Before submitting the 'Go' button, it is better to correct those misspelled words. This can be done by copying and pasting the text in your wordprocessor (e.g. Microsoft Word), checking spelling and pasting back. But that is a lot of work! It is better to have a built-in spell checker in the browser, always at service.

Spellbound is an extension for Mozilla firefox, for just doing that. Follow the link below to learn how it works and how to install it.

• Spellbound Extension for Firefox Browser

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